Yale and Harvard students arrested in protest given community service

Students from Yale and Harvard University, along with others arrested at a climate change protest during halftime of the annual Yale/Harvard football game, wait in Superior Court in New Haven Friday.

Students from Yale and Harvard University, along with others arrested at a climate change protest during halftime of the annual Yale/Harvard football game, wait in Superior Court in New Haven Friday.

Photo: Arnold Gold / Hearst Connecticut Media

Photo: Arnold Gold / Hearst Connecticut Media

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Students from Yale and Harvard University, along with others arrested at a climate change protest during halftime of the annual Yale/Harvard football game, wait in Superior Court in New Haven Friday.

Students from Yale and Harvard University, along with others arrested at a climate change protest during halftime of the annual Yale/Harvard football game, wait in Superior Court in New Haven Friday.

Photo: Arnold Gold / Hearst Connecticut Media

Yale and Harvard students arrested in protest given community service

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NEW HAVEN — The Yale and Harvard students and others who drew international attention when they stalled the Yale-Harvard football game with a climate change protest last month each was sentenced Friday to five hours of community service.

Judge Philip Scarpellino ordered the protesters to complete their community service, then return to court Jan. 27. If those conditions are met, he said, the charges will be dropped.

The students will be tasked with working for Project Green Thumb, an effort to beautify the New Haven Green run by Lt. Sean Maher, the downtown district manager for the city Police Department.

Nora Heaphy, a student with the Yale Endowment Justice Coalition, said she and her fellow protesters knew there were risks before they engaged in this action, and accepted those risks for the chance to share their views.

“I am really scared about what climate change means for my future,” said Heaphy. “We have tried every other opportunity to make our voices heard, and we knew this was an incredible opportunity and a moment we needed to seize.”

Both she and Caleb Schwartz, a student and organizer with Fossil Fuel Divest Harvard, noted that they were privileged in being able to move through the criminal justice system in this way.

“We’re lucky to have gone through this relatively easily,” said Schwartz, noting that he and his fellow students would be able to complete their sentences by doing something they support — an opportunity not always offered to others.

Justin Farmer, a member of the Legislative Council in Hamden who also was arrested during the protest, said he believed the criminal justice system in New Haven, for the most part, handled the matter well.

He noted, however, that some students were treated roughly and others were not arrested, meaning those sentenced Friday were treated more harshly.

New Haven police previously had said most of these protesters “left the field when asked and returned to their seats. Those who failed to adhere to such requests were issued misdemeanor summons.”

Farmer also reiterated the need for Yale and Harvard to divest from fossil fuels and Puerto Rican debt.

“We need to be a good steward of our planet,” said Farmer. “’Tis the season to divest.”

The New Haven Board of Alders and Mayor-elect Justin Elicker had called for the charges against the students to be dropped ahead of Friday’s arraignment.

“The passion, courage and drive of these students should be praised, and not penalized,” Elicker wrote in a letter to the the court. “This generation will be faced, head-on, with the repercussions of climate change, and it is essential that the delay of a football game, not undermine the importance of raising awareness for such a critical issue facing our world.”

Attorney Hugh Keefe, who represented the protesters Friday, said the sentence was a joint agreement with Supervisory Assistant State’s Attorney David Strollo, whom he credited for moving forward with the idea.

Keefe said the agreement, if completed successfully, would not result in a criminal history or fine, allowing the students to move forward into the future without such a thing hanging over their heads.

“I think it was a fair and just disposition,” said Keefe.

It is not yet clear whether the Yale students will face additional discipline at the university level.

Yale spokeswoman Karen Peart has said that Yale is “reviewing whether disciplinary action is warranted.” The university, while standing behind free expression and peaceful dissent, also advises on its student life web page that “a university event, activity, or its regular or essential operations may not be disrupted.”

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